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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Week 17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons ended in the only way it could have: a Jameis Winston pick-six.

The former No. 1 overall pick, who played this past season on the fifth and final year of his rookie contract in a “prove it” year, became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in the same season. Not only that, but he also became just the eighth quarterback ever to throw for 5,000 yards in a season.

But a 7-9 finish meant the Buccaneers missed the playoffs for the 12th-straight season, and with Winston as their quarterback, they’ve had just one winning year, 2016 when they were a surprising 9-7.

“The Bucs have the best free-agent class seven wins can buy in Winston, Jason Pierre-Paul, Ndamukong Suh and Shaq Barrett. Tampa Bay has smartly maintained one of the league’s youngest rosters while carving out healthy cap space, but keeping that defensive front seven together is prudent business. Since teams are allowed to double up with the use of franchise and transition tags in 2020 via the CBA transition, maybe use them on Winston and Barrett, while going all-in on a run for the playoffs next season. But don’t give Winston long-term money; you’d be competing against yourselves in that particular market.”

I doubt anyone is expecting the Bucs to actually give Winston a long-term deal. As impressive as it is that he threw for over 5,000 yards, he really has done nothing to warrant a long-term contract. No playoff appearances. An off-the-field incident that led to a suspension. One winning season.

Tampa Bay is likely hoping Winston will have a big Year 2 under Bruce Arians like Carson Palmer did. If they use either tag on him and he under-performs, it ultimately won’t hurt them in the long run financially.

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